Lives; running

“I have raced along summer beaches and across frozen lakes. I have sprinted along canals and beside riverbanks. Once, I raced a friend around two laps of the largest outdoor swimming pool in Europe, the bathers lifting their legs upwards in an attempt to catch our trailing feet. I ran on the day of the worst storms the country had ever known, battling the wind on the way out, my fingers pointing out and up, my head ten degrees forwards of vertical. On the way back, I ran the same four miles even faster, jubilant at my speed, triumphing over nature. There were many victories.”

“I have run in joy, I have run in so many kinds of pain.”

“Today, the din of my feet on gravel is ponderously slow. I run slowly and without style, just like a dad dancing.”